Making Lemonade

You know the old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"? Well, I find that some of traveling's finest moments often come as a result of bad situations turned to my advantage. Tonight for instance I'm staying at the Crowne Plaza West in Richmond, VA. After a long day of driving and then attending convention panels, I was looking forward to a quiet dinner in the hotel restaurant before the evening panels started.

However, when I went there I discovered that there wasn't a single vegetarian dish on the menu. Even the salads all had some kind of meat in them. Now I could have asked them to make me something without meat, and would have done so if I'd been dining with someone else, but I decided to make an issue out of it. I cornered the manager and pointed out that there was nowhere else within walking distance to get food, a monopoly that I'm sure adds quite a few customers every night. Not to have even one hot meal on the menu for people who don't eat meat is an insult.

He actually agreed with me and said I wasn't the first guest to point this out. He said their menus were dictated by Crowne Plaza corporate food services and suggested I write to them, which I intend to do. He also offered to make something up for me, but by that point I wasn't willing to trust them to make it totally meat free.

So I went back to my room and made my plight known to my friends on Twitter. One of them who lives in the area recommended Sticky Rice, a sushi place in one of Richmond's trendier neighborhoods. It was only about five miles away so I hopped into the Prius and drove down there.

I had the devil of a time finding a parking place on Friday night, but it was time well spent. The place was great and packed with all sorts of people. I took a seat at the end of the sushi bar and looked over the menu. There was a whole column of vegetarian dishes and many of them were clearly marked as vegan. I picked the Garden Balls (a veggie pate stuffed into inari pockets and deep fried) and Spicy Shiitake mushroom rolls. I topped it off with a Kirin Ichiban SPR beer.

That bad taste left in my mouth from the hotel restaurant experience was totally forgotten as I dug into this wonderful meal. I left the Sticky Rice relaxed and happy. It was an amazing experience I would never have enjoyed if the hotel had just put some bland tasting pasta dish on the menu. Lemonade indeed!

Stalking the Wild Elepherpiller

I love the park near my house. Not only does it provide me with a convenient source of exercise, but as a wildlife refuge in the midst of urban sprawl it just can't be beat.

Take today for example. I was out walking the main trail and came across a rare example of the nearly extinct Mid-Atlantic Elepherpiller. As you can see from the photograph, this elepherpiller has fattened itself up over the winter on bits of peanut butter granola bars discarded by careless hikers and is preparing to spin its cocoon. In just nine short weeks he (or she, it is difficult to accurately sex an elepherpiller) will emerge as a beautiful butterphant. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to walk this way again on that wonderful day!